Ukrainian MFA describes Minsk’s statement on drone violations of Belarusian airspace as “another provocation”

February 3, BPN. Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko described the information spread by Minsk on 3 February about a Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) crossing the Belarusian border as “another provocation by the authorities in Belarus.”

“Mythical ‘tons of weapons’ have been replaced by ‘drones’,” he wrote on Twitter. “Ukraine did not use UAVs. We urge Minsk not to play along with Russia’s destabilizing actions. Peace and stability on the border between Belarus and Ukraine are in the interest of the entire region.”

On February 3, Belarusian Foreign Ministry summoned Ukrainian Ambassador Ihor Kyzym to express its “strong protest over the targeted launch of an UAV from Ukraine into the territory of Belarus.”

The Defense Ministry later reported that the drone was launched at 10.58am on January 24 near the village of Pischa, Kovel district (Volyn region), 1.7 km from the border with Belarus.

After gaining operational altitude, the UAV crossed the border near the village of Chmielišča, Malaryta district (Brest region).

Because of this incident, the military attaché of the Ukrainian embassy was summoned to the Belarusian Defense Ministry on February 3 and handed a note of protest in connection with “the increasing number of violations of the state border of the Republic of Belarus by Ukraine”, as well as a statement about the need “to investigate this fact and inform the Belarusian side about its results.”